The general goal of iGEM projects is to create synthetic biological systems using standard DNA "parts" and projects generally have the goal of benefiting society in some way. For example, last year the Johns Hopkins iGEM team engineered yeast to contain all of the genes required to synthesize vitamin A. They can use these yeast to bake bread that supplements the diets of malnourished people. This year, Dalton's iGEM team has collaborated with the Johns Hopkins team on their large-scale project to engineer a synthetic yeast genome. The long-term goal of the Hopkins Build-A-Genome initiative is to be able to engineer yeast that can be used to solve human problems including combating world hunger, producing alternative sources of fuel, and studying human disease pathways in a simplified system. To this end, the Johns Hopkins team is currently creating large libraries of gene parts that can be used for assembling a genome. Dalton's role in this project was to synthesize 36 gene parts, including the creation of 6 fluorescent protein-coding parts that could be used to analyze the activity of the promoter parts that control gene expression. This project was carried out by juniors in the Advanced Biotechnology and Molecular Biology course during the month of May while the seniors were away on initiative. The coursework that led up to this point prepared students to competently participate in this high level research. Team members included Julia Barash, Zoe Ehrenberg, Grace Farley (who presented virtually in the Jamboree), Kristen Gonzalez, and Zoe Menon. Our project can be viewed at http://2012hs.igem.org/Team:Dalton_School_NY